On a September afternoon, Sofia Enriquez gets down on her hands and knees to draw a stick of cotton candy on a long sheet of white paper, surrounded by markers, pencils and students from Rio Vista Elementary School in Cathedral City, Calif.

Enriquez, clad in jeans spattered with dried paint, has divided third- through fifth-graders into teams, instructing them to trace the “shortest” person in their group and “turn them into a super hero or a villain.” (Growing up, the 5’1" artist was picked on for her height.) Students are grouped with others from different grades. “There’s no flying solo anywhere in this community,” Enriquez explains.

One team creates a half-cat, half-unicorn superhero with rainbow hair. Enriquez’s cotton candy completes another with a sweet tooth. As she moves around, the artist never draws her own ideas, instead asking how students need her help. Her classes are “more open and free instead of, ‘This is the mission, you’re going to get graded,’ ” Enriquez explains. “It’s more of a conversation instead of a step one, step two, step three.”

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Artist Sofia Enriquez teaches students in an afterschool program at Rio Vista Elementary School in Cathedral City, Calif., September 18, 2017. #weareonenation(Photo11: Zoe Meyers/The Desert Sun)

The activity is part of the YMCA’s After School Education and Safety program, one of the ways Enriquez gives back to the community through art. She also hosts lunchtime craft tables at local middle schools through the Palm Springs Unified School District’s Lady Lead program.

A painter known for her bold palette and approach, Enriquez says she once had students create patches from scrap fabric for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. She explained how the civil rights leader “stood up” for equality, then asked the kids, “What do you stand up for?”

Each student put their answer on a patch to wear. One wrote ‘I’m not afraid,’ in response to being bullied for her small stature. “I was like, ‘Girl, I feel you because that’s how I was as a kid,” Enriquez says. “It helps them cope with what they’re dealing with, their insecurities.

“There’s some kids that are like, ‘Oh, I want to save all the beagle dogs in the world,’ ” she adds. “Cool! Make a patch.”

With Enriquez, students create superheroes. They also can be one themselves.

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Artist Sofia Enriquez teaches students in an afterschool program at Rio Vista Elementary School in Cathedral City, Calif., September 18, 2017.(Photo11: Zoe Meyers/The Desert Sun)

About Sofia Enriquez

Location: Palm Springs, Calif.

Age: 25

Profession: Artist

Mission: “Put art everywhere.”

Q & A WITH SOFIA ENRIQUEZ

What does it mean to you to be an American?

It means that I have to work really hard. And try to be, I don’t know, try to make myself useful in the community because there’s so many people out here that want help and need help and want to have fun at the same time. So, I try to be a part of that circle with everyone. Being American, it seems very hard to describe because there is no one description for what an American is. I think it’s just working.

What moment touched and motivated you to launch this effort?

In school, they teach you how to cut and paste, or paint something very simple. But I try to take what I learned as a kid and bring it and offer it to other kids, [like] drawing something that doesn’t make any sense, or coming up with ugly characters that they only exist in your head. … Let’s experiment with color. Let’s learn about Frida Kahlo. Let’s talk about our emotions. I try to open it up more to just talking about why kids are doing it. … I always wanted to take art classes as a kid but it wasn’t offered to me.

Truly being happy with what I’m doing for a living. I get a lot of joy from working and making art with kids. … I just think that the world needs to have a little more of that freedom to express themselves in art. That’s what makes me want to drive all the way out to Desert Hot Springs and Palm Springs and Cathedral City. It’s like, well, if I’m not going to show up and bring a bunch of my messy crayons and markers, it’s not going to happen.

What do you hope to accomplish through your efforts?

That [students] can not have any fear when they’re creating something when they’re older.